Disposable absorbent articles are commercially available in a wide variety of configurations for absorbing and retaining urine, menstrual fluids and other vaginal discharges. Unfortunately, such articles may leak along their periphery due to poor fit or improper placement. Such leakage frequently results in soiling of a wearer's undergarments, clothing or bedding.
To provide additional protection against leakage, it is known to use a washable and reusable garment, such as a menstrual short or panty, in combination with a disposable absorbent pad. U.S. Pat. No. 4,813,950, Branch, discloses a washable menstrual panty having an outer lining of spandex, soft tricot, etc. that provides a “skin tight or almost skin tight” fit. Similarly, existing Japanese-style menstrual shorts act like a girdle or a tight fitting panty that attempts to hold an absorbent article in the wearer's pudendal region. However, the tight fit of such undergarments has been reported to be uncomfortable to wearers, and there is no apparent provision for directly lifting an absorbent article to a position close to a wearer's pudendal area.
A menstrual short panty having an elastic piece fixed to the front and rear of the crotch region in an elongated state is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,608,551, Seijo. The elastic piece is said to keep a sanitary pad raised and in contact with the body irrespective of physical movements. While such a device may improve pad-to-body contact along a centerline of a wearer's body, the device is unlikely to lift an absorbent pad into conformity with the external surface of a wearer's labia. Further, the narrow central elastic piece may cause the device to be uncomfortable to wearers because all of the lifting force appears to be concentrated along the centerline.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,393,621, Redwine et al., discloses undergarments having a crotch region with a longitudinal stretch control member and a plurality of angled stretch control members that limit stretch in the longitudinal and lateral directions and cause the crotch region to conform to the wearer's skin. The rear region has a lifting member the cooperates with the rear region, the front region and the longitudinal stretch control member to provide a “z-direction” biasing force that causes the crotch region and an absorbent article disposed thereon to be lifted into close bodily contact when the undergarment is worm. Such undergarments provide improved fit and performance, but can still result in undesirable leakage during use.
PCT Application WO 99/25289 describes a system comprising an undergarment for supporting an absorbent article in sustained close contact with a wearer's body. The absorbent article is said to be flexible under the body-contacting forces that are applied by the supporting garment so that it conforms to the wearer's body.
While the above patents and applications disclose various undergarments for holding absorbent articles against the body, there is a continuing need for a holder capable of holding an absorbent article in close bodily contact in the pudendal region to provide improved leakage protection and wearer comfort.